


Baby, It's Cold Outside

by Lady_Vibeke



Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [37]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Crush at First Sight, Cute Kids, F/M, First Meetings, Flirting, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Pre-Relationship, Single Dad Din Djarin, Snowed In, soft idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27400756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Vibeke/pseuds/Lady_Vibeke
Summary: “Hey, Jee,” she greeted, welcomed by an embrace of warmth and cinnamon scent. “Please, get me a caramel soy latte ASAP, I'm freez—” She trailed off mid-sentence. She had no idea who the guy standing behind the counter was, but it was definitelynother friend.“You're not Jia,” she observed, so acutely, taking in the man's good-natured expression and messy dark hair. He smiled at her, soft brown eyes crinkling at the corners.“Thank you for noticing. She had an emergency and asked me to look after the shop,” he explained, and Cara took a mental note to remind Jia it was rude to hold out on friends and loyal customers about such charming acquaintances.[  Cara is a famous fitness blogger. Single dad Din is a baker. Din's kid is an excellent wingman.  ]
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Din Djarin & Cara Dune, Din Djarin/Cara Dune
Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709416
Comments: 27
Kudos: 166





	Baby, It's Cold Outside

**Author's Note:**

> Last fic before tomorrow's episode, where hopefully we'll finally get to see Cara again, and a much needed reunion! Are you guys ready? I am, and I'm not. I just want these two to be together again, it's not that much to ask. 🥺

_The Golden Arbour,_ with its cosy indoor wooden alcoves and lush live plants, was Cara's favourite place in the world to retire to whenever she could, especially during a rainy day like today. As a fitness journalist and international influencer, her job consisted mostly on blogging, and there wasn't a more pleasant way to do that than surrounded by the sweet smell of Jia's very special organic muffins and the best lattes in the county.

She thanked the bad weather for the abundance of free parking spots along the street. She parked right around the corner, picked up the briefcase with her laptop, and rushed inside without bothering to get the umbrella from the trunk.

“Hey, Jee,” she greeted, welcomed by an embrace of warmth and cinnamon scent. “Please, get me a caramel soy latte ASAP, I'm freez _—”_ She trailed off mid-sentence. She had no idea who the guy standing behind the counter was, but it was definitely _not_ her friend.

“You're not Jia,” she observed, so acutely, taking in the man's good-natured expression and messy dark hair. He smiled at her, soft brown eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Thank you for noticing. She had an emergency and asked me to look after the shop,” he explained, and Cara took a mental note to remind Jia it was rude to hold out on friends and loyal customers about such charming acquaintances.

“Nothing serious, I hope?” she inquired, shrugging off her damp coat.

Cute Guy shook his head. “She's good, just having a wisdom tooth removed. I'm Din, by the way,” he held out his hand to her, “an old friend of Jia's.”

“Oh.” She shook his hand, returning his strong grip. “I'm Cara.”

“Short for Caramel?” he grinned. Cara groaned inwardly; ten seconds in, and she was already mildly crushing on this guy. She had a thing for kind, quick-witted people.

“If only,” she couldn't help but grin back. “I'd rather go by Caramel than Carasynthia.” She cringed at the mere sound of it; she didn't even know why she was mentioning it: she normally pretended the last seven letters didn't exist at all.

Instead of attempting polite and blatantly fake reassurances that _Carasynthia_ was in fact a pretty name, Din nodded like this was a very serious matter he genuinely sympathised with, which made Cara's _mild_ crush go up several points.

“Understandable. So,” he asked more cheerfully, “caramel soy latte. For here or to go?”

Cara pulled her personal travel mug out of her briefcase and handed it to him. “I brought some work to do, there's going to be a lot of lattes.”

“It's your lucky day, then. It's very quiet this afternoon.”

“Must be the cold and the rain. I love this weather, though.”

It was just herself and Din, in here, apparently. She couldn't say she minded. He proceeded to prepare her latte while Cara made herself comfortable at the closest booth _—_ just because it was her usual spot, she certainly didn't choose it so that she could still talk to sweet Din while working.

He brought her her order a minute later, accompanied by the complimentary chocolate going with it , leaving a couple of napkins which, unfortunately, didn't have any number scribbled on them. Cara was used to people slipping their numbers at her or asking for hers : she was pretty famous in the web, but her pretty face and feminine forms were attractive enough per se. Din didn't look like that kind of guy who'd hit on a stranger, though.

“Can I interest you in a chocolate and coconut muffin?” he said before leaving. “I make them myself.”

Cara's mouth fell open. “You're Jia's baker?”

She was addicted to The Golden Armour's muffins—to all its bakery products, actually—and she'd always been able to figure out at once whenever, on very rare occasions, Jia got batches from a different supplier; Jia's justification to these unforgivable occurrences was that her usual man had unavoidable personal emergencies, from time to time, whatever that meant.

Din seemed flattered by her reaction.

“She told you about me?”

“I _asked_ her about you. You bake some to-die-for stuff. I finally know who's to blame for all my extra workouts.”

“Thanks.” Din ducked his head sheepishly. Cara caught a hint of blush in his cheeks as he turned to the counter and grabbed a muffin from under the glass dome, put it on a plate and placed it in front of Cara. “Here, on the house.”

She smirked up at him. “I like you already.”

“Likewise,” he replied, and she was pleased to notice her was holding her gaze for much longer than necessary. He really was cute _—_ patchy beard, thin moustache, sexy mouth...

“Oh, I forgot,” he said suddenly, breaking Cara out of her dreamy haze. He pointed at the white foam on top of her cup, “What stunning work of art would you like on your latte?”

Cara couldn't have cared less about latte art, hadn't it been offered by the most interesting barista she had ever met.

“Surprise me.”

Din fetched the chocolate syrup and started working. He seemed to know what he was doing, until Cara heard him curse under his breath—it sounded like Spanish?—and withdraw the syrup bottle with a frustrated sigh. “I swear I know how to do this,” he mumbled, staring at the vaguely cat-shaped blob floating on the foam. “I'm damn good, usually, I don't know _—_ ”

“You know what?” Cara helpfully scooped up all the messed up foam spoonful by spoonful (and was a little flattered by how Din's eyes kept returning to her lips while she did so), then pushed the mug back to him. “Here, start over.”

The light blush on Din's cheeks intensified. He poured a new layer of foam into Cara's mug and made to try again, but drew the syrup bottle back before the chocolate could come out.

“Don't look,” he said. “It must be you. You're giving me performance anxiety.”

“Oh?” Cara gave him a sultry look that definitely wouldn't improve the situation. “Well, since it's so brave of you to admit that...” Chuckling, she closed her eyes and waited.

“Don't peek,” he warned. Cara could only hear Din's concentrated breathing as he worked; she felt the warmth of his body beside her, and could smell a faint scent of sandal mixed with sugar oozing from him.

“Okay,” he said after a couple of minutes, “you can look, now.”

Cara opened her eyes a bit sceptically and immediately her lack of faith. Din did know what he was doing: it was the face of a cat, whiskers and stripes and everything. It even had the tiniest heart as a nose.

“Wow. This looks amazing.” Cara gaped in wonder. “Where did you learn to do this?”

Din shrugged modestly. “My son _—_ he's five _—_ loves this kind of thing.”

Cara felt a sting of disappointment in her chest. So he had a son. Which, statistically, meant that he probably also had a life partner.

“You and your... wife? husband? must be artists.”

“Single parent,” he informed her without any fuss. Cara liked this: he didn't act like a hero for raising a child alone, but didn't even seek any pity.

“All the decorating is on me,” he continued proudly, “and he demands decorations on pretty much everything he eats.”

“Explains why you're so good.”

Din exhaled a low laugh. “Yes, I have a very exigent boss.”

It made Cara smile. She didn't have any experience with children but she could easily picture this adorable little boy directing his father's artistry with very precise and equally arduous requests. She couldn't stifle a touched smile at the picture of Din and mini Din creating edible masterpieces together.

“I think it's going to be just the two of us for a while,” Din mused with a glance outside. Beyond the windows, the rain was thin but thick and the sky was a scary yellowish shade of grey. “I'll be in the back to check the batch of donuts,” he told Cara, “if you need anything give me a call.”

“Thank you,” she said, trying to sound casual. It was probably for the best that he was getting out of sight for a while, though, or she wouldn't be able to get anything done.

She was halfway though her article about the importance of educating children about good eating habits and physical activity when the door opened and a giant man in a blue winter jacket popped his head in.

“Hey,” he greeted in a deep voice. “Is Din here?”

“He's in the back,” Cara replied, perplexed.

“Oh, great” Before she could ask if she should call Din, the big guy pushed a kid inside and waved at her. “I'm kinda in a hurry, tell him Paz says hi. Bye, kiddo.” He ruffled the kid's sandy hair and retreated outside.

“Bye, Uncle Paz,” the kid yelled from the threshold, then closed the door behind himself. He stood in the middle of the room, hands resting on the straps of a school backpack, and started scrutinising Cara intently.

“Hi,” he greeted.

“Hey,” she greeted back, a bit hesitantly. The boy's dark eyes studied her head to toe and back.

“Do you know my Daddy?” he asked after a while.

“Is Din your Daddy?”

“Yes.”

Cara smiled, “I guess I do.”

“Okay.” The kid didn't move from where he was, nor he tore his attention off her. “He says I mustn't talk to strangers but if you know him you're not a stranger.”

“I'm not sure that's how it works,” she said, amused by the child's insolent stare. His tongue turned out to be even more insolent.

“Do you like my Daddy?”

Cara almost choked on her latte; it was a miracle she didn't splutter it all over her laptop.

“I... think so,” she coughed. Kids had such a shameless nerve...

“I'm sure he likes you,” the boy stated with a big grin, “because you're very pretty.”

Cara folded her arms and leaned over the table toward the kid. “Am I, now?”

He nodded vehemently, then announced, “I'm Leo.”

“Nice to meet you, Leo. I'm Cara.”

“I thought I'd heard a familiar voice.”

Cara turned around: Din was coming out from behind the counter with a huge smile and his arms extended out to wards the child, who darted straight into them with a happy shriek.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, buddy!” Din scooped him up and propped him over his hip. He touched his forehead against the boy's, and it was the most moving greeting Cara had ever seen. “How was school?”

“Good. I just met your new friend.”

“My new _—_?” Din met Cara's awkward smile. “Ah, I see.”

Leo brought a hand next to his mouth to whisper into his father's ear, “She's sooo pretty!”

Cara tried to smother a snicker into her shoulder. She was expecting Din to change the subject or at least pretend not to have heard that; what she heard, instead, was, “She is, isn't she? Did you ask her if she's a princess?”

Cara blushed. Dammit. Kids were normally a deterrent to her, but this guy was such an adorable father and his son was undeniably cute and polite. Something evil and treacherous inside her started whispering to her that this would be a nice picture to come home to at night.

“She's not a princess!” Leo was protesting as though he'd been personally offended.

Din's eyebrows arched dramatically. “No?”

“She's a Valkyrie!”

“Oh? What's a Valcary?”

“It's Val-key-ree, Daddy!” Leo giggled. He had a bright, happy giggle that was a sheer delight to hear.

“Okay, okay,” Din giggled along. “And how do you know my friend Cara is a Valkyrie?”

“Valkyries are pretty and _strong,_ and she looks super strong!” Leo explained, dead serious.

Din cast Cara a surreptitious smile. “You know what, I think you're right. Look, she even has a very special braid.”

Leo avidly turned in his father's arm to verify his statement and his eyes widened as soon as he noticed the braid running along the side of Cara's head.

“Are you really a Valkyrie?” he asked in awe.

Cara intercepted Din's apologetic look and decided playing along just this once wouldn't hurt anyone, so she brought a finger to her lips with a conspirational grin and said, “It's a secret.”

“I won't tell anyone!”

“Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise!”

Din walked closer to Cara so that she and Leo could hook their pinkies together and seal their solemn promise. After that, Leo looked like he had just received a priceless gift.

“Come on, now,” Din said, pulling him away, “leave Cara alone. She has work to do, and you have homework.”

“I want to sit here to do my homework!” Leo pouted.

“Buddy, Cara can't be disturbed.”

“Just leave him here, we can help each other out.”

“You have homework, too?”

“Yeah, something like that,” she laughed. The only difference was that she made a living with her homework. She rotated her laptop so that Leo could see her article on the screen, “I have to write about all those good foods that make us strong and healthy.”

“I know everything about it!” the kid exclaimed, so loudly it made Cara wince.

“Do you, now?” she chuckled as Din mouthed a mortified _'Sorry!'_ over the child's head.

Leo shook of his backpack before climbing onto the bench next to Cara; he made himself comfortable, then pointed at the pictures in Cara's articles.

“I eat tons of veggies and fruits!”

Cara could see Din was about to reprimand the kid. She didn't want to ruin Leo's enthusiasm, so she decided to exploit it and divert it where it was required.

“You know what,” she said, pulling the laptop away, “why don't you finish your homework and then help me do mine?”

She sought Din's eyes to check if he was okay with this and, much to her surprise, he was watching her and Leo with his arms sternly crossed and a big, contradictory smile curling his mouth.

So this was how Cara ended up spending the rest of the afternoon: half writing with the valuable collaboration of a five-year-old who _did_ know an awful lot of stuff about heathy foods, and half assisting said five-year-old with his calligraphy practice homework. From time to time, Din came around to bring a cup of coffee and a couple of cookies, and to check how they were doing, and he seemed quite impressed with how things were progressing. Cara was, too: she had zero kid experience but Leo was a surprisingly enjoyable company and so well-mannered in his enthusiasm about things that Cara just couldn't help fall a little bit in love with the young fellow.

The fourth time Din showed up, Leo's homework had been successfully completed and put away; now the boy had somehow ended up sitting on Cara's lap while she read the article out loud to him, accepting suggestions.

Cara was having such an unexpectedly good time she didn't even realise Din was watching. Leo was a smart kid, very well informed about everything he was really interested in, so Cara just had to incorporate some of his clever observations into the article, including the deeply heartfelt declaration that _'his Daddy could make even the baddest foods taste good when he made them pretty'._ These two must have been a joy to watch at home.

“What are you two up to?” Din spoke, making Cara jump and Leo giggle. “You're not doing Cara's homework for her, are you?” he asked Leo. “She's supposed to do it on her own.”

“I swear he only helped me revise,” Cara said innocently, sharing a complicit look with Leo, who gave her the least subtle wink she'd ever seen. She felt an inexplicable tug of fondness deep into her chest.

“Cara taught me _five_ new words!” Leo announced proudly, showing his father the sheet where Cara had helped him practice the spelling of _protein, digestion, calorie, vitamin,_ and _metabolism,_ which was the one Leo was most proud of.

Din stared at the paper in what seemed genuine wonder.

“Five!” he beamed and gave Leo a crisp high five. “Ms Omera is going to be very impressed!”

But Leo's concern as to what Ms Omera—who, Cara assumed, must be the kid's teacher—would say about his improved vocabulary was momentarily dimmed by something he had just seen beyond the windows.

“Daddy, look! It's snowing!”

Cara's instinctual joy about the thick, heavy snow falling outside lasted approximately three seconds, after which her brain caught up and reminded her she wouldn't be able to go home in this weather.

“Damn.”

Din cast a worried glance at the street. “Did you drive here?”

“Yeah.”

She was fucked: there was already a substantial layer of fresh, fluffy snow on the ground and all public transportation was likely getting blocked already.

Din walked to the nearest window to take a better look at the situation. “We weren't expecting any snow,” he said, scowling. “It's getting pretty bad.”

It was already six PM. The shop was closing soon and Cara had no idea how to get back home safely. Din had the same problem, apparently, because Cara heard him curse under his breath—something in Spanish that made Leo gasp and Din apologise at once.

“I'm calling Uncle Paz,” he conveyed, grabbing his phone from the counter. “He's a fireman,” he explained to Cara, “He'll know if there's a weather alert.”

The following call between Din and Uncle Paz was entirely in Spanish and increasingly animated. Cara's Spanish was inexistent, but she did know a word or two and that was enough to nearly make her choke on her third latte when she heard Paz's loud voice mention one _'chica caliente con los ojos negros',_ to which Din, blushing, replied with a scoff and a surreptitious gaze in Cara's direction. He covered his phone with his hand for a moment, letting Paz ramble on, and, ears very red, asked, “You don't speak Spanish, do you?”

Cara gave him an angelic smile. “No,” she reassured him, “but I happen to understand bits of it.”

“Uh.” Din hesitated for a second before being mercifully sucked back into the frantic conversation. A couple of minutes and quite a lot of frustrated looks out of the window later, Din closed the call and ran a hand through his already mussed hair.

“The blizzard is going to get worse,” he sighed, “and last through the whole night. Everyone is recommended to stay inside until the weather stabilises.”

“We're _stranded_ here?” Cara groaned. Din tossed his phone back on the counter.

“Apparently we are.”

All things considered, there could have been worse places to get stuck into than a cosy coffee shop with a nice man and his cute kid _—s_ urrounded by delicious stuff, incidentally.

“What does strandled mean?” Leo asked and turned not to Din, but to Cara.

“Stran-ded,” she corrected. “It means we're going to have to stay here for tonight.”

“But we don't have our jammies!” Leo shrieked, looking at Din, this time.

Cara caught the vague glint of panic in Din's eyes. Paired up with the boy's accelerated breathing, it wasn't a good sign. She decided to distract Leo from the stressful side of the situation and veer his attention elsewhere.

“We're not going to need jammies,” she announced, rubbing his belly in excitement, “you know why?”

Leo shook his head.

“Because we're sleeping in a fort, tonight!”

Perplexed, the boy looked around the room to find nothing but ordinary furniture.

“There is no fort here.”

“We've got to build it first!”

Cara sought Din's eyes and found them already upon herself, glittering with a quiet smile. It gave her a boost of confidence that made her stand up, Leo propped against her hip, and head toward the corner of the café where tens of cushions and blankets were scattered on a rug around a fireplace.

“Do you think this is good enough to set our camp?”

Leo eyed the piles of cushions and his face lit up light a Christmas tree. He turned so fast Cara had to whip a second arm around him.

“Can we, Daddy?”

Din let out an apologetic half a laugh; his whole face crinkled in the most adorable way.

“I guess we're not going to have anything better to do for the rest of the night, so...” He played it cool and let the anticipation grow in the pause of silence, then broke into a big smile and shouted, “Let's build this fort!”

There was an endless string of _'Thank you!'_ and _'I love you!'_ from Leo, to which Din responded with the most loving hug Cara had ever had the privilege to witness. Her heart liquefied when she heard Din whisper back to the boy, “I love you, too, kiddo.”

It was simultaneously too beautiful and too painful. Cara didn't have anyone—hadn't had anyone in a long time; she envied their closeness, the sense of completeness she felt around them.

After promising Jia's stuff would be handled with care, Leo was free to rush around and start to collect items for their fort. Cara and Din stood side by side watching him gather chairs and blankets and whatever else he was able to haul.

“You saved him from a bad panic attack, you know?” Din said under his breath. “He gets anxious when his habits are disrupted.”

“Understandably,” Cara replied gently. Din was such a good father: his main concern weren't temper tantrums, but the reasons behind them and his kid's well-being. She felt this was a man worth spending time with—investing feelings on.

“Do you have kids?”

The question left her speechless: did she look like someone who had kids?

She gaped at Din, half chuckling, “No.” Kids had never been in her plans, not even when she was a kid herself. She was not _against_ the idea: she simply had never considered it, nor did she feel any need to be a mother to feel whole and accomplished. Her life was pretty good and rewarding already.

He nudged her with his elbow. “I guess you're a natural, then.”

Cara was habituated to compliments, what with her looks being the main source of her success as a blogger, and they hardly touched her at all, by now, but the way Din was looking at her... that felt like it was more than just someone admiring her face.

“He's sweet,” she mumbled. “Nothing to do with my neighbours' savage monsters.”

“He has his bad moments, too,” Din admitted, “but most of the time he's a really good kid.”

“I guess it takes a really good dad to raise a really good kid.”

“I'm doing my best.”

“Do you mind if I ask—” Cara began, but stopped halfway, afraid she was overstepping her boundaries. Din, however, didn't seem bothered at all.

“Why it's just the two of us?” He offered her a reassuring smile. “A friend of mine found out she had cancer the same day she found out she was pregnant. She didn't have anyone and asked me if I was willing to take care of her baby if anything happened to her, and I promised I would.” He took a small breath, licked his lips. “She died when Leo was three months old, and three weeks later I was officially his father.”

The tiny, almost neglectable crush Cara had started to develop on this man was slowly but steadily spreading like wildfire.

“That was very brave of you,” she whispered, caressing his profile with her gaze.

“I grew up in foster care,” he confessed, smiling as he observed Leo stacking up cushions like their lives depended on it. “I didn't want that life for him.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I was raised by my nana,” she confessed in return. This wasn't something her five millions followers knew. Hell, some of her closest friends didn't know, either. “My whole family died in a fire when I was four.”

Din just looked at her as though he knew everything she wasn't saying. Cara wondered if he knew she might be a little in love with him already. His eyes fell briefly on her mouth; Cara bit her lip with a coy smile, and Din smiled, too, dropping his gaze sheepishly.

So. Something was going on here. It wasn't just her, then?

“Daddy! Cara! Look what I made!”

They blinked, and the moment was gone. Leo was standing proudly beside a lopsided igloo of cushions barely large enough to fit half him.

“That's amazing!” Cara complimented. She was trying so hard not to giggle: one side of the igloo was threatening to give in any moment.

As if reading her mind, Din suggested, “Perhaps we should use some chairs and blankets to expand it and make it more stable?”

Before Din was even done speaking, Leo threw himself over the cushion pile and tore it all down like a mini Godzilla. His following fit of giggles while he rolled over the wreckage of his own destruction was infectuous. Cara laughed until she felt the warm touch of Din's hand upon the small of her back.

“You heard the boss,” he said, a heart-melting grin curling his lips, “let's get to work.”

Two hours later the sky was pitch-black and the snow was still falling. It was knee-high, by now, and covered everything in sight. Inside the café, the lights were out and only the fireplace was left to cast its golden glow all around the place. The fort was a beauty, if slightly on the shabby side, and its improved design now allowed all two and a half of them to lie almost comfortably beneath its roof.

“Now we can all sleep here!” Leo exclaimed excitedly. His cheeks were still red from the exertion and his hair tousled just like his father's.

“All of us?” Din echoed with a cautious glance toward Cara.

“Yes!”

“Hey, buddy, I'm not sure Cara is comfortable with—”

Cara, who had never had anything like this during her childhood, felt that just sitting here with Din and Leo roasting marshmallows on the fire was like Christmas coming early. She had no problem whatsoever with sharing the burrow with these lovely boys.

“It's fine,” she promised. Leo beamed; Din didn't seem very convinced.

“Are you sure? You don't have to do this just because of him.”

Cara rolled her eyes in amusement. This guy really was a gentleman to the bone. She thought they were extinct.

“Do you bite?” she asked, an eyebrow suggestively, to which Din replied with an equally suggestive smirk.

“Only on very specific occasions.”

Cara laughed, “Which I'm sure don't involve a five-year-old audience.”

“Correct.”

“Then we're good. So,” she gave Leo a nod with her head, “let's see what this fort looks like from the inside.”

Amazing, that was how it looked. The light from the fire shone through the colourful blankets, painting a very festive atmosphere underneath the canopy. Cara helped Din close the glass screen of the fireplace, then all three of them crawled into their fort and lay down side by side, Leo happily ensconced in the middle. He was already nodding off by the time his head touched the ground.

“Cara?” he said sleepily, curling against her side. Surprised but not remotely disturbed, Cara rolled onto her flank and let the boy cuddle up closer.

“Yes, kiddo?”

“Do you like my Daddy?”

Cara met Din's eyes above the child's head; his eyes gleamed like embers in the dim light. He smiled at her, and it was like the heat of those embers was spilling into her chest and through her whole body.

“Yes,” she answered, smiling back, “he's a very nice guy.”

“Do you want to _gate_ him?”

“Do I _what?”_

Leo yawned wide. “I heard Uncle Paz tell Daddy that Ms Omera likes him and wants to _gate_ him.”

Din nearly choked on his own saliva. “Leo, this is not—ah.” He rubbed a hand over his face and let out a consternated sigh. “I'm sorry, he shouldn't—”

Cara was beyond charmed: this man was even more attractive when he was all flustered.

“It's okay,” she snickered, “I'm sure you'd make a lovely _gate.”_

Din's embarrassment ebbed at once. “Yeah?”

Cara pressed her lips together to try to stifle the flirtatious smile pulling at them. “Mm-hmm.”

Leo was snoring, and they were whispering like teenagers who didn't want to get caught by their parents.

“So you wouldn't be opposed to the idea?” Din inquired in a tentative tone that proved to be more seductive than anything any man she had dated in the past had ever done for her. No man had ever looked at her the way sweet Din was regarding her now.

“All the contrary,” she purred under her breath.

“Would you go on a _gate_ with me?” Din asked, like he couldn't believe she was actually encouraging him.

Cara bent an arm and tucked it under her head. Whatever was happening here, she didn't want it to stop. In fact, she couldn't wait to see where this was going.

“Won't this disappoint Ms Omera?” she quipped, eliciting a light snort from Din.

“I already disappointed her myself, don't worry. She's not _gating_ material to me.”

 _Good,_ Cara thought. Not that she was afraid of any sexy teacher's competition, but it felt good to know he knew what he did and didn't want.

“Alright, then.” Grinning, Cara lifted her hand and gently removed a few locks from Din's forehead. “I dare you to top a pillow fort with a blizzard raging outside and a cute snoring kid serenading us.”

She loved how Din's cheeks filled up when he smiled. She would be happy to stare at this smile for the whole night.

“Okay,” he muttered, eyes full with something warmer than the fire crackling behind them. “Challenge accepted.”

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't particularly shippy, just a bit of cuteness peppered with innocent flirting. Bless Leo for giving these two a much needed push.😂
> 
> Proud author's corner: [With Eyes Wide Shut](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21900034) AKA my first CaraDin story ever just hit 500 kudos and while it might not sound like a lot, it feels like a huge milestone to me, especially for a tiny little oneshot, so thank you to every single one of you who gave this to me. I love you. ❤
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this quiet and pretty uneventful story, consider it the calm before the stom. Cara is coming back, let the feels fest begin! 🤩
> 
> P.S. the Golden Arbour is a homage to a certain golden _armour _we all know so well. Jia says hi! 😊__


End file.
